Skeet shooting interest rises

Skeet shooting has experienced highs and low in past years at the Minot Gun Club. This year the swing is on the way up as an increased number of shotgunners have shown interest in skeet.

With interest on the rise, the club opened a second skeet field a few weeks ago. An almost forgotten high house was pulled from a nearby grove of trees, re-fitted and put into use.

“It hasn’t been used for as long as anyone can remember,” said Mark Vickerman, Minot Gun Club president. “We drug it out, anchored it and put temporary wiring to it. For the short term, we will leave it on skids.”

Trapshooting remains the mainstay at the club. In trapshooting clay target are thrown from a low house at varying angles, but always flying away from the shooter. Skeet involved targets thrown from both low and high houses, including targets thrown at the shooter and targets crossing both left to right and right to left. A round of trapshooting consists of 25 targets, skeet 24 with an option for the shooter to fire a 25th shell.

Skeet presents a second shooting discipline for interested shotgunners. Those who primarily participate in trapshooting sometimes find themselves at the skeet range where a new challenge awaits.

“We had a full skeet league this year and it is becoming more and more popular with our day to day trapshooters. It’s another opportunity for them,” said Vickerman. “They go back and forth. We’re going to run a non-sanctioned skeet tournament next spring.”

The second skeet field takes up a portion of the Taft expansion to the trapshooting range. The area has not been used for trapshooting for several years. The club’s main section of trap houses have proven adequate for today’s events, including the state trapshoot which is scheduled to return to the Minot Gun Club in 2014.

A third shooting discipline is in the planning stages for the club. According to Vickerman, efforts are under way to secure funding for a “5 stand” course. Five stand is sometimes referred to as a version of sporting clays shots from a single position.